The Conquest of Bread

by ,

Narrated by AudibleAnarchist (group); Runtime 6h; Public domain

English language

Published Sept. 21, 2017 by LibriVox.

(2 reviews)

In this work, Kropotkin points out what he considers to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism, and how he believes they thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity, as symbol for richness and in spite of being in a time of abundance thanks to technology, while promoting privilege. He goes on to propose a more decentralised economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation, asserting that the tendencies for this kind of organisation already exist, both in evolution and in human society. He also talks about details of revolution and expropriation in order not to end in a reactionary way. (summary by AudibleAnarchist)

73 editions

reviewed The Conquest Of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

Classic imagining of a future that sorta came true?

First published in 1906, a lot of the things Kropotkin imagined (soon we will all have electricity! And food delivery!) actually came to pass, and a lot of the social issues (child labor) have been mitigated, in the west. Many of his suggestions / predictions did not come to pass (we still have money). Very interesting to review what the pressing issues of his day, and feel some degree of hope that although we have our own problems, we have less cases of 8 year olds out-competing their parents in the workplace.

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